Vauen No. 09 Himalaya Blend

An interesting aromatic, and a disappointing one. This is one of the first aromatics I tried a few years back when I was dipping my toes in the aromatic waters. I picked up a few cans, and the first few pipefuls of the first can were pretty stellar. I didn't really pick up goji berries from the flavor, but it certainly was a complex and unique aromatic.

Unfortunately, the aromatic essence gives up the ghost halfway through the pipe and the remaining tobaccos aren't really interesting enough to sustain the full smoke. This is not unique to this variety; however a good number of Lakeland, and other European aromatic tobaccos make up for the decrease of the aromatic component with a decent tobacco for the last part of the smoke. Whatever Virginias they were using certainly didn't help with any complexity for that last part of the smoke. I thought I'd found an aromatic for the rotation here but not only did the smoke fade out halfway through the bowl, the second can apparently missed it's appointment with the flavor department. I ended up with a can of rather low-grade non aromatic tobacco to finish. In fact I mixed the remaining tobacco in with some Lane Limited BCA just so I wouldn't waste it. At that point it actually smoked pretty well. Again, it was too bad, because the beginning of the first can was pretty unique flavor-wise.